Movies you've just watched

[xxx1993]

Godzilla vs. Kong was awesome! Even better than King of the Monsters!

[drauch]

Not the most convincing review I've seen.

[xxx1993]

I don't usually write fully detailed reviews, but I can tell you I definitely enjoyed it...

[BryanM]

I never watched Our Robocop Remake all the way through; the ED-209 sequence was excellent but most of the scenes were very low budget and low effort. lo however, felt like some Lasagna Cat lately and discovered that Fatal Farm shot a scene in this collab. Like most of their work, it's a wonderful, wonderful nightmare.

Emphasis on nightmare.

[drauch]

Fatal Farm's scene is the greatest. Just the other day I told someone to "Just fucking do it!!!". But nobody shot my raging boner.

[vol.2]

Just watched this quick Doc on Delia Derbyshire, the electronic musician who composed the Dr. Who theme song at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. It's short, so worth checking out if it sounds interesting to you. It covers some of the early history of the workshop and Derbyshire's development as an artist. Really fascinating stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2dvGQ32q8g

[lilmanjs]

Legend of The Mountain
I ripped the Blu Ray to get stills for the Movies & Filmmaking discord and ended up getting sucked into it once again. If there's one director who was perfect at landscape shots, its King Hu and he pretty much just shows off as much as he possibly can in this movie. Excellent use of colors throughout as well. Chinese Ghost genre movie done to perfection.

[xxx1993]

Thunder Force. Pretty fun superhero comedy! I like how it started off with AC/DC.

[Vexorg]

My Fair Lady: ***1/2

I know this one is considered one of the best films of all time (7 Oscars, AFI top 100 list, etc.) and is undoubtedly one of the most impressive films of its era (a $17 million budget, equivalent to approximately $146 million today, certainly helped that) but can also be a bit tough to watch for modern audiences. Rex Harrison's performance as Professor Higgins can be rather jarring, and Audrey Hepburn's scenery-chewing performance as Eliza Doolittle is excellent, but not without its controversy as in many cases her singing was replaced by an uncredited voice-over (Marni Nixon, who also overdubbed a number of other famous performances in a similar uncredited fashion). Many of Hepburn's original vocal performances survived and were eventually restored, and there seems to be plenty of debate over whether or not it was necessary to replace her vocals. For that matter, even Audrey Hepburn originally felt that the role of Eliza belonged to Julie Andrews, who played it in the original stage version, but Jack Warner wanted her instead (Meanwhile, Julie Andrews starred in Mary Poppins in the same year, a performance which earned her a Best Actress Oscar.).

Other factors that make it tough to watch are its nearly three hour runtime (this was back in the day when it wasn't unusual for a film to have an intermission) and a lot of musical numbers that go on longer than they should and overstay their welcome. In spite of all that it's still worth seeing, if for no other reason than to see Audrey Hepburn in her prime.

Bonus clip: This appears to be from a 1970s variety show starring Julie Andrews, where camera trickery is used to create an argument between Eliza Doolittle, Mary Poppins and Julie Andrews herself:
https://youtu.be/5usVahlDjv0

[Searchlike]

I love the horse race number in My Fair Lady, but that's about it. I enjoy Hepburn, but I do think she was miscast. For peak Audrey I recommend Two for the Road, it's Richard Linklater's Before trilogy except is just one film and a much better one too. My second favorite is Breakfast at Tiffany's, I hope that one doesn't need an introduction. Charade is also fun, basically any combination of Hepburn and Mancini is a sure win. I also remember liking They All Laughed, but it's been a while.

I rewatched Speed Racer last weekend. I'm jealous of anyone that got to see this on the big screen. This a well-made movie on most accounts, but what surprises me the most is the fact that none of the cast phones it in. The special effects are something of a visual attack on the viewer though. I can't help but feel that all those reaction shots during the final race are partially there to protect the audience's eyesight from all the shit happening on the screen. The original anime was my father's favorite show growing up and he loves the film as well. A special flick, maybe even a favorite of mine.

[Vexorg]

I rewatched Speed Racer last weekend. I'm jealous of anyone that got to see this on the big screen. This a well-made movie on most accounts, but what surprises me the most is the fact that none of the cast phones it in. The special effects are something of a visual attack on the viewer though. I can't help but feel that all those reaction shots during the final race are partially there to protect the audience's eyesight from all the shit happening on the screen. The original anime was my father's favorite show growing up and he loves the film as well. A special flick, maybe even a favorite of mine.

I've heard Speed Racer described as the result of an explosion at the Technicolor factory. Seems like an apt description.

[Vexorg]

City Slickers (1991): ***

Billy Crystal and his two friends spend their mid-life crisis driving cattle in New Mexico, which predictably goes awry in just about every way imaginable. Notable mostly for Jack Palance's show-stealing performance as the grizzled old trail boss Curly, for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar (which he famously celebrated by doing one-armed push ups on stage at the award ceremony.) Aside from that, the story takes way too long to get going, and gets off into the proverbial weeds far too often. Still a decent movie with some good laughs though.

[Necronopticous]

Hardcore Henry

Haven't seen Hardcore Henry yet, but my wife & I caught Naishuller's Nobody (starring Bob Odenkirk) last night. It was incredible.

[rapoon]

Hardcore Henry

Saw Hardcore Henry in theaters. If a 3D Realms FPS was put to cellulose, here's the result. Absolutely bonkers.

[GaijinPunch]

Hardcore Henry

Haven't seen Hardcore Henry yet, but my wife & I caught Naishuller's Nobody (starring Bob Odenkirk) last night. It was incredible.

I didn't know Cali had theaters yet. Need to check the area. This is one I wanted to see.

[Necronopticous]

We pirated it! Tried to see it at the drive-in, but they didn’t get it so we had no other option. Theater-only releases are incredibly dumb right now.

[MintyTheCat]

We watched the re-imagining of Suspiria 2017 I think it was.
Quite different to Argento's film - I am not a fan of his as director as a rule as he's all over the place.
This one takes place at a different time and place - Berlin in the late 1970s. It's quite violent in places.
It's not too 'cheap' in how they pull it all off and apparently, they got approval from Argento with the writing and concept. It's a bit more 'witchy' than the original too.
Might be worth seeing it if you like Horror films.

[vol.2]

Quite different to Argento's film - I am not a fan of his as director as a rule as he's all over the place.

Argento is twisted. The Argento movies I watched tend to go like 1) Sort-of normal movie is setup with some innocent mysterious element 2) Mysterious element is pushed into more intense territory and becomes the clear focus of the story 3) Dramatic sequence where plot twists are revealed and red-herrings are sorted out 4) Just when you though things couldn't get more bizarre, they do, and you can't believe how it's even possible 5) Things get even more bizarre in some kind of superhuman feat of twisted fucked-up-ness. 5) Everyone but the protagonist and maybe one of their friends is killed in the most unbelievably violent and disgusting way imaginable.

Might be worth seeing it if you like Horror films.

I do, but Argento just makes me want to puke sometimes.

[Necronopticous]

I loved Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria so much that at many times during my initial viewing I thought it might wind up being one of my favorite films of all time, then one scene near the end almost ruined the entire thing for me. I still enjoy and recommend it overall, but wow...yeah, huge caveat there. Tonal sodomy.

Of Argento's films, Suspiria was never one of my strong favorites. I think Phenomena is his masterpiece, and not just because it was the inspiration for Clock Tower.

[drauch]

I think Phenomena is his masterpiece, and not just because it was the inspiration for Clock Tower.

Same. That's my favorite, and one of my favorite movies. Has his directorial flair, a killer soundtrack, entomological interests, and an absolute batty ending. It's the bee's knees.

[vol.2]

I think Phenomena is his masterpiece, and not just because it was the inspiration for Clock Tower.

Same. That's my favorite, and one of my favorite movies. Has his directorial flair, a killer soundtrack, entomological interests, and an absolute batty ending. It's the bee's knees.

I saw that one last year. definitely nuts though. I don't want to spoil it...

Spoiler

The whole last 15 minutes of the movie is like kind of over the top. The whole thing with the mutated kid eating people chained up in the basement. The pit of rotting body parts really made my stomach turn. I appreciate what it is for the genre and all that, but I guess I just get too queasy.

Soundtrack is awesomeness incarnate for sure.

[MintyTheCat]

I actually prefer it when Argento has written instead of directed - the man's annoying as director.

One of my favourite Horror films is The Sect that Argento contributed to as writer.

His Mother of Tears was such a poor film that I was laughing through-out.

I find that the man makes little sense but things tend to look decent in his films, but, there are directors who do it better visually than he does, and as such, I don't really rate him as many Horror fans tend to.

Cronenberg and Lynch are better directors in my book.

The Sect in case you have not heard of it, and there's another 'The Sect' film from the mid 90s that's not this film:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil ... 1991_film)

[drauch]

Ya, Michele Soavi worked a handful of times with Argento. He's great. Or, uh, was, like most of the Italian directors until TV took over in the 90s. Funny, Argento even has a "Critical Decline" section on wikipedia, lol. I watched his Dracula awhile back for the hell of it. Lots of insane CGI and pretty mediocre, but I think I probably had more fun with it than his last, more 'traditional' attempts. Tempted to eventually check out The Card Player maybe at some point, but I'm sure I'll never actually get around to it since the odds are against me.

[BIL]

Holy fuck, didn't know he'd done a Dracula. Sounds interesting (he's always interesting, one way or another )

Tenebrae remains my favourite of his. It has everything vol.2 mentioned hating, in spades - I'm not really into that stuff either, nor the roughly comparable Western slashers. However, I make an exception for Tenebrae, on account of 1) its *cough* amazing plot (I love it ), and its cod Miami Vice styling. It's so bright and fresh n' clean, all enamelled and sunny, and the strutting Italo-disco is B-B-B-B-BANGIN. Fuck me! That'd go great in any Castlevania or Shinobi! Lovably goofy in spite of its horrendous cruelty.

vol if you haven't you should check out Berberian Sound Studio, interesting Lynchy dissertation on Giallo 'orrors. Funny and weird, relatively compact at 90mins too.

[vol.2]

vol if you haven't you should check out Berberian Sound Studio, interesting Lynchy dissertation on Giallo 'orrors. Funny and weird, relatively compact at 90mins too.

Cool. Thanks for the tip. That looks worth a look.

To be fair, I don't hate Argento; I really appreciate the stylistic nature of his movies from the 70s and 80s. The trippy psychological stuff and retro-futuristic vibe are amazing, along with the absolutely killer soundtracks (in most cases). There are whole scenes in his movies that would function as installation art in a museum when taken out of context; Argento has (or had, as it may be) a knack for incorporating stuff like that into an actual film. That was next-level filmmaking, and what makes the second golden-age of Hollywood so appealing to me.

[Searchlike]

Well, for those of you who do like that sort of thing there's Folies Meurtrières (1984), a low budget slasher film reduced to its most iconic imagery and with a soundtrack to die for:
https://murderdrone.bandcamp.com/album/ ... i-res-1984



Running at just 45 minutes, almost completely devoid of plot, this movie cuts straight to the point and is fully devoted to its murderous subject matter. It also works as a sharp meditation on the genre's usual tropes. Worth seeking out if you ever find yourself with some spare time to kill.


...

Monte Hellman passed away yesterday. Did you know you could have stayed at his home-turned-AirBnB and hung out with the guy? One hell of a man, indeed.

https://twitter.com/mercurialblonde/sta ... 8218431494

If you haven't seen the cockfighter now is a great time

As I read that tweet, suddenly, images of Yuma Asami came rushing to my head for no apparent reason until I remembered. Did you happen to watch it yet, drauch? I might give it a rewatch later this week.

[BIL]

Interesting rec, many thanks! I had a good bad time with The Prowler (1981) recently, bombed on the couch and 76% cognisant - about as stripped-down a slasher as I can recall. The highlight was, of course, Tom Savini's

Spoiler

headshot finale on Herr Prowler he very self.

Now that was some good head!

Spoilers: SCOOBEH DOOBEH DOO, WHERE RU

(soft spot for gas masks and other functionally cool disguises, here what if they fill a bucket with ammonia and bleach, hmm?! then you'll be sorry! )

[Searchlike]

Likewise, BIL. I'll have to check that one.

[emphatic]

I remember liking Stendhal Syndrome. I thought it was very stylish.

[drauch]

As I read that tweet, suddenly, images of Yuma Asami came rushing to my head for no apparent reason until I remembered. Did you happen to watch it yet, drauch? I might give it a rewatch later this week.

A man of culture!

Yeah, almost put Hellman in the recently deceased thread. 91 y/o if I recall, so a good run! I did get around to watching it the other week . Very good, as expected. Left me feeling pretty cold and nasty, lol. Kept reminding me of the chicken massacre at the beginning of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

I've got Folies Meurtrières on a drive somewhere. I'll try and find that soon and give that a run. My kinda runtime!